St Augustine

After a good night’s sleep, we awoke about 5.30am and start the generator and engine so it could tick over nicely before we headed out into the Atlantic once again. The rain was still pelting down, and the wind was still there but we needed to get down the coast in daylight. We steamed out into the Atlantic and the wind had changed direction which was good, and we had no following sea’s, and it was a lot calmer too. It was still freezing cold and the wind was coming straight from the west and we had its broad side on. We were flying at some stages and reached about 30 knots and averaged 8 knots the whole day.

We eventually arrived about 2pm into St Augustine which is the oldest city in America. We had to wait about half an hour for the bridge to be opened before we could get our mooring ball, but this was not a problem as the sun started to shine and we could see an old fort which would be nice to visit. After mooring the boat, we jumped into the dingy and headed over to the marina to pay for our stay and show our documents. After that we tied the dingy to the dock we walked into the city, and I have to say it was a beautiful city too. It was full of charm with its old buildings and cobble streets and it had a fantastic feel about the place.  We could not believe how busy it was and after asking someone what was going on we found out it was the Christmas Boat Carnival. The place was buzzing, and we had to wait over an hour just to get a table for something to eat but I can tell you it was worth it.

The next day we had a look around the city and made our way to the old fort. I’m used to Bamburgh Castle or Dunstanburgh Castle and they are both big, but I have to say for America and what history it has I was very impressed with it and the staff were amazing too. They even fired a real cannon without the cannonball of course but it gave you a real feel hard it was back in the day. 

The bridge opened every half an hour for all the boats passing through.

Dingy Dock. Loads of sailing folk moored their dingy's here but you can see the docks were empty at the other side as it was damaged during the hurricane.

Jam packed streets 

  Old buildings every where and some where made out of compressed seashells. 

The bridge across into the fort

They slept in here on straw beds

Inside the fort

The guys were just about to set of the cannon. It was really load too. 

After a lovely stop, we headed out once again and sailed down the coast towards Cape Canaveral.

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OVER AND OUT